In this article we will check out the progression of hedge fund sentiment towards Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD) and determine whether it is a good investment right now. We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before spending days of research on it. Given their 2 and 20 payment structure, hedge funds have more incentives and resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also employ numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments.
Is AEMD a good stock to buy? The best stock pickers were becoming more confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions advanced by 2 recently. Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD) was in 3 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic was previously 1. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that AEMD isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings). There were 1 hedge funds in our database with AEMD positions at the end of the fourth quarter.
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Do Hedge Funds Think AEMD Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At first quarter's end, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 200% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in AEMD over the last 23 quarters. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD), which was worth $0.6 million at the end of the fourth quarter. On the second spot was Millennium Management which amassed $0 million worth of shares. Citadel Investment Group was also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Renaissance Technologies allocated the biggest weight to Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD), around 0.0008% of its 13F portfolio. Millennium Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to AEMD.
Now, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Renaissance Technologies, created the largest position in Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD). Renaissance Technologies had $0.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander's Millennium Management also initiated a $0 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD). We will take a look at NanoVibronix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NAOV), China Recycling Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CREG), MoSys Inc. (NASDAQ:MOSY), Mediaco Holding Inc. (NASDAQ:MDIA), Taitron Components Incorporated (NASDAQ:TAIT), Image Sensing Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISNS), and HighPoint Resources Corporation (NYSE:HPR). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble AEMD's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position NAOV,3,479,0 CREG,2,200,-1 MOSY,2,643,1 MDIA,3,569,2 TAIT,1,1432,-1 ISNS,2,1178,1 HPR,3,491,2 Average,2.3,713,0.6 [/table]
As you can see these stocks had an average of 2.3 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1 million. That figure was $1 million in AEMD's case. NanoVibronix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NAOV) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Taitron Components Incorporated (NASDAQ:TAIT) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for AEMD is 87. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 17.2% in 2021 through June 11th and still beat the market by 3.3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on AEMD as the stock returned 219.7% since the end of Q1 (through 6/11) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
